Reach for You by Pat Esden (31)

CHAPTER 32

At sunrise, I let the egg fall from the shell into water gathered from the spring. The white, he did not float. The yoke, she did not sink. All turned into smoke and was gone, like a shadow into darkness.

—Annie Freemont’s future, divined by Olya Freemont

 

 

 

Over the next two days, Chase mostly slept and I sat with him. Dad and Mother spent most of their time talking quietly and taking drives along the coast. Grandfather learned a great deal about hexads from Jeffrey White. Apparently the Sons of Ophiuchus had hoped to use her flute-magic to access the veil between life and death. However, as much as they wanted that, it wasn’t going to happen now. Lotli had vanished—or at least Tibbs’s surveillance drone showed her campsite as empty, the bread truck and everything else gone. He also discovered that Newt and his entire family had disappeared, not a trace of them left in Bar Harbor.

Chase’s genie blood must have kicked in on the third day because he rapidly started to feel better and insisted on moving back to the cottage and doing his chores.

“It isn’t fair to make Tibbs tend the sheep and take all the patrol shifts,” he insisted. “Besides, I feel fine. Zachary needs someone to help him with his knife throwing. Your uncle complained about the lawns getting shaggy. . . .”

I rolled my eyes and didn’t argue with him. But just before sunset I drove Dad’s Mercedes up to the cottage to bring him a plate of Laura’s maple-glazed donuts and make sure he wasn’t doing too much. All right, that’s a lie. Every inch of me longed to be with Chase and I needed to talk to someone.

Watching Dad and Mother together had been wonderful. But it had left me oddly unsettled. That feeling had intensified even more that afternoon, when Dad had told me they planned on returning to our house in Vermont in a few days. Dad wanted to get back to traveling and dealing antiques. Mother wanted time to quietly adjust to everything. They made it clear I was welcome. They wanted me with them. But I wanted them to have their own time, to get their lives together. And, as strange as it sounded, I wanted to stay at Moonhill more than I wanted to go back to my old life.

I parked the Mercedes in front of Chase’s cottage, snagged the plate of donuts, and started for the front door. Chase opened it before I could even knock—and he wasn’t the only one waiting on the stoop to greet me. Houdini wound around Chase’s legs as if they were best buddies. Strange cat. He’d never hung out on this side of the estate before, at least that I was aware of. For that matter, he’d never appeared to like Chase. I’d assumed that was why I hadn’t seen him very much since we returned from the realm.

Chase took the plate from me. The bruises under his eyes had faded to a purplish green. His nose and left arm were still bandaged, but most of his other wounds had healed up. He really was looking good.

I swept my fingers down his jawline and gave him a quick kiss.

“No fair doing that when my hands are full,” he said, kicking the door shut with the side of his bare foot.

“Well, there’s an easy remedy for that.” I smiled suggestively, took the plate of donuts from him, and set it on the coffee table next to his yarn and knitting needles.

He pulled me into his arms, his lips meeting mine in a warm, firm kiss, lingering but not that hot. A delicious promise of things to come.

Everything about the moment felt perfect, like I was in a dream. Maybe it was a dream, one that I’d had over and over again since I was a child, but forgotten upon waking. Everything did truly feel familiar: The warmth of his arms, the last of the sunlight slanting through his windows, dust motes rising from his old couch, even the hint of lilac wafting from a candle that he’d no doubt lit after I’d texted to say I was on my way. It felt like I’d been moving toward this moment all my life.

I dropped down on one end of the couch. “Did Grandfather tell you the news about your mother?”

He glanced at the yarn and knitting needles and smiled. “I can’t believe he arranged everything so fast.”

“That’s the old boys’ network for you. It’s just too bad she has to stay at Beach Rose House a second longer.”

“It’s not that bad,” he said. “The lawyer said my stepfather should be gone before the end of the week. After that, Olya and Kate are going to install wards to help protect her from Malphic. She’ll be able to move back home, once that’s done.” Chase’s eyes came to mine. “Thank you. She deserves it.”

My body felt warm and buoyant, as if I might float up into the air from sheer happiness. He made us coffees and we sat on his couch, my head on his shoulder as we sipped them and nibbled donuts, talking about nothing particular, mostly snuggling.

After a while, he put his mug on the table, his face suddenly serious. “Annie,” he said. “I can’t promise that I’m okay. It might be a long time before I know the full extent of what the change did to me.”

Silence hung in the air between us. Houdini padded across the room and off into the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was surprised he hadn’t brought this up earlier, like while I was sitting with him in the Orchid Room. Then again, I probably should have asked him about it. I should have been worried. But I hadn’t been—and I still wasn’t.

My heart said, everything was going to be fine.

He touched my wrist. “When I was in the desert changing, I felt so lost. It was like a nightmare where I was running and running and couldn’t find a familiar place. Everything was strange. But your voice. Your lips. The smell of your skin. Your touch. Your essence.” His thumb grazed the back of my hand, sending tingles across my skin. “Those things were familiar. And they led me out of the nightmare. I thought about you lying in my bed, here in the cottage. I remembered the light of the bonfire on your hair. The taste of strawberry jelly on your skin. I remembered you in the driver’s seat of the Mercedes, the first night you came to Moonhill. I remembered every second of us.”

I raised my eyes to his, barely able to breathe. “Chase, I—”

His finger pressed my lips, silencing me. “All those years in the realm, I hated being a slave. I hated myself and hated what I was becoming even worse. But sometimes—here at Moonhill—I longed to be back there. Strange, isn’t it? But sometimes I felt so alone here.”

“It sounds normal to me,” I said lightly. “I felt alone when I came here, too.” But inside I was quivering. So overwhelmed with emotion that tears prickled in the corners of my eyes.

“Annie.” His voice was hushed now, his eyes on mine. “I’m not lonely anymore. I don’t want to ever go back to the realm. Everything I want is here.”

I didn’t dare move. I didn’t dare breathe. “I want what’s between us to last,” I whispered. “But I can’t guarantee it—any more than you can predict what the change did to you.”

“I know that. But we can try.” He hesitated, his blue eyes as fathomless as the ocean. “Annie Freemont, will you stay here with me?”

Surprised, I sucked in a breath. “You mean—”

“Will you live with me? Here in the cottage. I know it’s not much.”

“I—ah—” An explosion of emotions crashed over me. Relief. Joy. Amazement. Tears flooded from my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his neck and nuzzled my face against his chest. “Of course, I will. I love you, Chase Abrams.”

He pulled away from me, holding me at arm’s length. “I don’t mean right now. I want you to go to London first. Take that class. Take all the classes you want. I don’t want to hold you back. I don’t want you to rush into it or stop dealing antiques.”

I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt, and cuffed him in the chest. “That all sounds very noble—but no way am I going to wait to move in with you. I’m thinking I’ve already spent the last night in my own bed. From now on it’s you and me.”

He laughed. “And Houdini makes three?”

“I don’t think he’s going to give us much choice about that.”

The cool air chilled my toes as Chase ran after me up the narrow staircase to the attic bedroom. He lay me down on his mattress—our mattress, brightened by clean, crisp sheets. He pulled off my shirt. I undid his jeans, kissing each fresh scar and bruise, each plateau and ripple of his body. To say we made love would be like comparing a single star to the Milky Way or the whole swirling universe to a drop of rain. It was beyond lovemaking. It was a bonfire. It was coals and heat and love.

Sometime later, I woke up curled against him. He slept quiet and peaceful. I pulled a loose blanket around my shoulders and sat up on the edge of the bed, staring out the open window at the yard below—our yard. Everything was calm, the chime of crickets the only sound.

But in my head a low voice whispered, repeating once more the words that had woken me from my sleep. Malphic’s words: “We who were cast out return, live in blood and bone of those who are great.”

The mattress squeaked as Chase joined me on the edge of the bed, his arm wrapping around my shoulder and snuggling me close. “Something wrong?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking. Well, more like my subconscious was doing it while I was trying to sleep.”

“You’re not thinking of changing your mind about living together?” he said. Hesitantly, he added, “I’d understand if you—”

“No, it’s not that. Never.” I rested my hand on his naked thigh and glanced back out the window. Along the edge of the yard, outlines of trees reached into the darkness. I swallowed dryly. “I’ve been thinking about Malphic’s last words—about blood and bones, and those who were cast out returning. I’m certain it wasn’t a spell. But what do you think he meant?”

“I’m sure he was talking about genies being cast out of the Garden of Eden and their dream of one day repopulating this world. Culus’s whole reason for trying to steal the Lamp of Methuselah was so he could take over this realm. Malphic has the same dream.” His voice quieted and he turned to look at me, worry shadowing his eyes. “What are you thinking?”

“My dad’s told me lots of stories about my Freemont ancestors. We’ve matched wits with genies for eons. It’s like they enjoy the challenge, or maybe even admire us because we aren’t pushovers.”

“That’s possible,” Chase said. “But what does that have to do with Malphic’s words?”

“In the realm, my mother told me that the blacksmith who sat beside Solomon is her ancestor. He was known for his ability as a toolmaker. But I think Mother was hinting about him being the source of her special abilities, too—just like my Freemont ancestors and their magic.”

Chase’s arm went around me again, a warm comfort against the chill prickling the nape of my neck.

I leaned into him. “Your mother told me that her family descended from the union between a Malmuk warrior and a daughter of Genghis Khan. She thinks Malphic was behind that happening and that he chose to have a child with her because of those ancestors, some of the finest warriors this world has seen. But what if Malphic has been manipulating my family, too, playing matchmaker with both our bloodlines?”

He let go of me, sitting back, his eyes on mine. “It’s possible. If Malphic’s anything, he is patient. Eons would mean little to him.”

My mind spun, thoughts and pieces of ideas flying together, like leaves and twigs rejoining to form a tree. “When you escaped from the realm the first time, you beat Malphic in a fight and stole the moonstone knife. You hadn’t gone through the change at that point. You were a teenager. He could have easily killed you.”

Chase shook his head. “There’s a code of honor. A mature warrior has to limit his magic and skills when he fights a younger opponent. That’s why I won. Malphic was obeying his own law, just like he’d expect his warriors to do.”

“Maybe. But I think he was testing you.” I rubbed my neck, pausing to let my thoughts catch up. “What if having my mother as his mistress wasn’t his ultimate goal. What if it was a small piece of a larger scheme? I’m starting to think everything—him kidnapping her, you escaping, then us going to rescue her. What if everything was designed to bring us together, to test our abilities and worthiness? To see if we had our ancestors’ skills.”

He tilted his head and gave a skeptical nod. “I suppose Malphic might do something like that. But worthiness? For what?”

My pulse slowed. I licked my lips. “The day your mother talked about your lineage, she told me something else.” I took a deep breath, bracing myself. “She told me about when you were conceived. She claimed she knew the instant it happened. I thought that was nuts. How could any woman know that so soon? But she was telling the truth. And so was Malphic. The genies will return in the blood and bone of those who are great.”

I took his hand and pressed it against my stomach. Sometimes a woman knows.

 

 

—Malphic, Warlord of Blackspire